Shawn Copeland – University of Idaho

An advocate for new music and an avid chamber musician, Shawn Copeland is a founding member of the Tosca Duo and the Relevents Wind Quintet. He has performed with the Greensboro, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Fayetteville, Orlando, and Bach Festival Orchestras. Shawn holds degrees in music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (DMA, MM) and Stetson University (BM), and in Non-Profit/Arts Management (MA) from the University of Central Florida. His teachers include Kelly Burke, Lynn Musco and Frank Kowalsky.

Dr. Copeland joined the faculty of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho in 2014. Shawn is passionate about holistic teaching and the inclusion of the body in the creative process. As an accredited teacher of Alexander Technique and a specialist in Body Mapping, he has dedicated his research to working with performing artists.

When not teaching or playing the clarinet, Shawn can most likely be found in the kitchen enjoying his deep passion for food, wine and southern cooking. He also enjoys cultivating Zen through his bonsai trees, and escaping reality through the occasional video game. He and his partner reside in Moscow, Idaho with their Jack Russell Terrier, Scribble.

Shawn Copeland has applied the principals of Alexander Technique to clarinet performance and pedagogy since 1997. He earned his teacher certification in 2006, through a five year apprenticeship with Dr. Marsha Paludan. His post graduate mentors include: Bill Conable, Sarah Barker, Glenna Batson, and Dale Beaver. Shawn travels extensively giving presentations, master classes, and workshops at universities and conferences throughout the US, Mexico and Europe. He spends his summers teaching at the Stetson University Summer Clarinet Clinic and the Eastern Music Festival. He is the author of the upcoming publication, What Every Clarinetist Needs to Know about the Body.